Can the quality of a photograph be measured?  You might think so, but no.  A photograph is seen and evaluated differently by different people.  It is one of those “eye of the beholder” things.  It’s very much subjective.

There will never be a standardized way to measure the quality of a photograph because there is no one definition of photographic quality.  A formula does not exist.  However, if there was, my formula would have something to do with focus, composition, and exposure – the importance of which I feel is the order given.

Focus

First and foremost, the photograph must be in tack sharp focus.  You must pay most attention to focus as it cannot be corrected during post processing.

Composition

Composition is also very important, but it can be corrected to a certain extent during post processing by cropping.  Just remember that when you crop a photo, it will limit the size of print you can make.  It is always best to take the time to compose your image in your camera.

Exposure

So long as you haven’t clipped any highlights, exposure can generally be corrected in post.  If you haven’t captured the proper exposure in camera, and for reasons that will be explained in our histogram section, it is much more desirable to have your photo overexposed (too light) and then reduce the exposure in post.

Quality can be either aesthetic or technical.  To have a great photograph, you must have both.  A photo which is aesthetic, is by definition visually appealing.  I won’t try to define visually appealing because there are so many examples, but let’s just say that when you see a photo of this sort – you know it.